Las Vegas’ New WNBA Club Shows Its Hand With Aces On The Hardwood and With Entertainment
By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
It was the Las Vegas Aces’ big day. The re-branded WBNA team was making its preseason debut in Sin City with a 5 p.m. tip-off with the women’s national team from China at just-renovated Mandalay Bay Events Center Sunday.
So, MGM Resorts International — the owner of the WNBA team the company bought and moved from San Antonio — was probably not too thrilled the NHL decided to start the Vegas Golden Knights’ possible series Game 6 clincher against the San Jose Sharks at 4:30 p.m. Sunday with watch parties sprouting up across the Vegas Valley just 30 minutes before the Aces’ historic tip-off.
But it didn’t matter.
For the couple of thousand Aces fans who enjoyed the new comfy seats just installed in Mandalay Bay Events Center, it was a pleasant Sunday outing to see their new professional women’s hoops team and its recently-drafted new star, A’ja Wilson.
The Aces breezed by the Chinese national team, 98-63, in the exhibition and fans at the game enjoyed keeping up with the Golden Knights, which polished off the Sharks, 3-0, in Game 6 to clinch the conference semi-final series, four games to two.
This being Las Vegas, MGM Resorts wants not only to field a competitive WNBA team but also a sports event that is entertaining and up to Vegas (and MGM Resorts) standards.
“I’ve never seen something like this before in the WNBA,” said former WNBA player Rushia Brown, player program and franchise development manager.
Brown was referring to the VIP lounge section behind one of the backboards, the tables along the court and the detailing in the new hardwood floor that included the shapes of hearts and clubs inside the three-point arc.
Lance Evans, MGM Resorts’ business point man with the Aces, said 75-125 fans can fit in the VIP lounge behind the backboard. The section even has a sponsor — it’s the Pepsi hightop lounge, Evans said.
The newly-renovated venue, an MGM Resorts investment of $8 million-$10 million, will have a capacity in the 7,000-7,500 range. It will provide a more “intense atmosphere” for the Aces players, Brown pointed out.
She recalled playing in NBA arenas when many WNBA teams were owned by NBA clubs that were too cavernous for WNBA games. And she liked the fact that a non-NBA team owned the WNBA team because the women will benefit from the business focus of an independent owner.
“MGM is all in,” Brown said.
To give the WNBA team’s home court the Vegas feel, MGM Resorts hired a band called East Side Riot to play live music an hour before the game and during halftime, radio personality Chet Buchanan man the arena public announcer job (he has done NASCAR at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium) and a dance squad called the Wild Card Crew to entertain fans.
“It’s another round in sports history. We’re building this from the ground up,” Buchanan said before Sunday’s game. “It’s all about fun and entertainment and creating an atmosphere that is fun and accessible.”
That’s also been trademark of Las Vegas’ other professional sports teams that have made their Sin City debuts in the past year — the NHL Golden Knights and the United Soccer League Las Vegas Lights FC.
LVSportsBiz.com spokes with a small sample size of fans who liked the product. Jonae Mahone and Don Thomas they have each invested in $799 season ticket deals, plus season ticket deals for each of Mahone’s three daughters who also like women’s basketball.
“Vegas has the marketing tools to push this,” Thomas said during a snack break at the game.
Mahone also liked that the Aces roster includes former UNLV star Brooke Johnson.
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And she also liked the seating’s sight views.
“I was afraid we would be sitting higher than where we were,” Mahone said.
The Aces’ regular season home-opener is May 27 when the team hosts Seattle for a 5 p.m. start.
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